How Leonardo DiCaprio Turned Early Childhood Struggles Into Oscar Success

At this point in Leonardo DiCaprio 's increasingly successful career, it's hard to remember a time when the 39-year-old actor wasn't a Hollywood fixture. Yet before he was the Oscar-nominated "Wolf of Wall Street " actor or a "Titanic" heartthrob, or even a standout young guest star on TV's "Growing Pains," he led a very unglamorous life exposed to crime, drug use, prostitution and violence while living in a rough neighborhood near Hollywood Boulevard and Western Avenue in Los Angeles. DiCpario recently reflected upon those formative years in an interview with the L.A. Times' Envelope and revealed that it motivated him to become an actor. "I grew up very poor and I got to see the other side of the spectrum," DiCaprio said when asked about what knowledge a Hollywood actor has about the great divide between the wealthy and poor in America -- the former of which is on full di...